A group of 28 US and Canadian wildlife biologists attending the 16th North American Wildlife Conference in Milwaukee Wisconsin during March of 1951 met informally for discussion, and founded an organization called the Wildlife Disease Committee. Most of these individuals probably had attended the technical session on disease, nutrition, and control problems, that included presentations on the effects of ingested lead shot upon waterfowl, screw-worm infestations in deer in the southeast, trichomoniasis in mourning doves, foot rot in California deer, and an analysis of the 1949-50 fowl cholera epizootic in Texas.

Ten of the biologists met again on 16 March 1952 at the 17th North American Wildlife Conference in Miami. At this meeting, the name of the group was changed to the Wildlife Disease Association, thus establishing an international scientific organization dedicated solely to the study and understanding of health of wild animals. The group also approved a statement of scope and purpose of the Wildlife Disease Association ("WDA") that had been developed in committee during the previous year.

A formal constitution was drafted in 1959 and approved by the members. It is essentially the same document that our association is governed by today, with relatively minor changes over the years.

Dr. Carlton Herman, a scientist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, was one of the numerous early volunteer members of the Association. Dr. Herman first espoused the idea of a society for the wildlife disease discipline. He was the WDA's founding Chairman from 1951-1959 and first elected President from 1959-1961. Dr. Herman also prepared and printed the association's first Newsletter from 1951-1959 and served as editor of Wildlife Disease, a microfiche journal, from 1959-1972.

Dr. Herman established the Carlton M. Herman Founders' Fund in 1991, to provide a perpetual source of money in support of activities of the Wildlife Disease Association. Over the last 10 years, the fund has supported invitation of a number of speakers to our annual meeting to specifically address topics related to population health and density resulting from changes in habitat.

Dr. Herman died in 1997, but through the Herman Fund, his influence on and commitment to the WDA continues. Other members have also had a profound influence on the WDA, many of whom served as editors of WDA's various publications table 1, as officers of the WDA Council table 2 and and/or received WDA's highest honors; the Distinguished Service and Emeritus Awards (see section of website entitled "WDA Recognition and Awards").

The WDA Annual Conference was held in conjunction with the North American Wildlife Conference during the first 15 years of its existence. Beginning in 1966, WDA meetings were held independently or in conjunction with other societies. Most annual conferences have occurred in Canada and the United States. International conferences have been held in High View, New York (1962); Sussex, England (1971); Munich, Germany (1975); Sydney, Australia (1981); Uppsala, Sweden, (1985); East Berlin, Germany (1990); East Lansing, Michigan (1995); Pilanesberg, South Africa (2001); and Cairns, Australia (2005). Beginning in 1990, no meeting was held within North America in the years when a meeting was held outside North America.

The WDA has produced a number of publications starting with the first Newsletter (1951-1964), a means for distribution of WDA news and brief reports of wildlife disease investigations. In 1965, this newsletter grew into a journal for research papers, case reports, etc. and was entitled the Bulletin of the Wildlife Disease Association. Five years later, the name was changed to the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, as we know it today, and the journal has become the primary peer-reviewed publication for wildlife health issues. Prior to the journal (1959), the WDA published a unique microfiche journal entitled Wildlife Disease for longer manuscripts, reviews, bibliographies, etc,. and continued to use this format until 1986. In 1978, the association began distributing another newsletter along with the journal, the Wildlife Disease newsletter, which is now known as the Supplement to the JWD (1986-present).

The Bulletin of the Wildlife Disease Association/Journal of Wildlife Diseases was initially printed in Chicago, Illinois. It was subsequently printed in Ames, Iowa (Carter Press), Guelph, Ontario (Guelph Printing Company), and Fort Collins, Colorado (Colorado State University Press) Ames, before being relocated to Allen Press in Lawrence, Kansas in 1983. In 2004, the Association entered into agreement with HighWire Press of Stanford University for an electronic version of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases to be mounted and maintained on the HighWire Press platform.

The WDA logo has evolved as well. The first image on the Bulletin of the Wildlife Disease Association included drawings of flying waterfowl, a mosquito, and test tubes. In 1970, when the journal changed names, the image included a fish instead of a mosquito. In 1983, when the journal cover was updated, a new logo was introduced that incorporated all of the old elements with 2 new ones, a deer and a microscope. We began 2001, our 50th year, with a new logo and a new look. The new logo retains most of the previous elements: a deer, flying waterfowl, fish, mosquito, and microscope, reflecting the diversity of animals and issues of interest to members of the WDA. Some of the geographic sections of the Association have section logos that display fauna indigenous to their areas.

The WDA constitution provides for membership subdivisions or Sections for members who have common scientific interests or share common geographical boundaries, and a number of WDA sections have been organized over the last several decades. The Australasian Section, established in 1973, was the first WDA section. Other geographic sections that have thrived include the Nordic Section established in 1987 and the European Section established in 1993. Each of these sections elects their own officers, holds a seat on the WDA Council, convenes meetings within their respective geographic regions, and publishes newsletters. Another section, the Wildlife Veterinarian Section was established in 1980 and is comprised of people who are members of both the WDA and the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians. The Wildlife Veterinarian Section also elects its own officers, holds a seat on the WDA Council, publishes its own ewsletter, and convenes its annual meetings in conjunction with either the WDA or the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians. The sections of WDA unite common interests and bridge disparate geographic regions. The WDA encourages the formation of geographic sections.

The Council of the WDA was originally comprised of the Past President, President, Secretary, Treasurer, and six Members-at-Large, the latter with two elected annually on staggered three year terms. In 1968, the Editors of the WDA publications were added by constitutional amendment as members of Council. At present, this includes the Co-Editors of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases and the Editors of the WDA Newsletter and website. In 1978, elected Chairs of Sections were included as voting members of the WDA Council and, in 2001, a Council position was created for an elected student member. There are currently 21 positions on the WDA Council.

Administration of the WDA has evolved gradually. Initially the WDA business office operated from Chicago, Illinois. In 1967, the business office was relocated to Ames, and in 1993, to Allen Press in Lawrence, Kansas where it remains. Except for the business contract with Allen Press and some editorial assistance for the Editors of the Journal of WildlifeDiseases, all activities of the WDA continued to be served for many years by volunteers. In 2003, Council contracted with a consultant as a part time Executive Manager. Members of the WDA continue to rely on and appreciate the extensive volunteer work of the membership!

There were 200 members in 1954 and the number of members and institutional subscribers increased by 1959 to 652 members and 116 institutional subscriptions for the Bulletin of Wildlife Diseases. In 2008, there were 1348 members and 385 institutional subscribers to the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

The memberships and subscriptions have varied over the years. Overall there has been an increase in memberships and decrease in institutional subscriptions during the 25 years between 1981 and 2008. There were 700-800 regular memberships between 1981 and 2002 with a subsequent increase to 898 regular members in 2008. There were many student members (220-250) during the 1980s with numbers dropping as low as 123. In 2008, we had 330 student members. An associate membership category was introduced in 1992 for those wishing to be members at reduced fees without receiving the Journal of Wildlife Diseases.

Students have always played a prominent role in the WDA. The Association sponsors a number of student awards including a research recognition travel award and a student best presentation award both initiated between 1969 and 1972. In 1997 a scholarship award first presented for the first time and a best student poster award was initiated in 2007. Details about these awards are presented in the Students section of the website. Many of the geographic sections also offer student awards for members within their sections. The Association has also sponsored student meetings and travel for a number of students to some annual meetings. Students are now creating student chapters of the WDA to share common interests.

The WDA originated in the United States (US), is incorporated in and runs its business office within the US and publishes the Journal of Wildlife Diseases within the US. Understandably, the Association is dependent on representation by members from the US. However, from the very early stages the Association aimed to serve all who worked on the health and management of wildlife. The international scope of the WDA was reflected by having members from 15 countries and institutional subscriptions from 13 countries back in 1959. In 2006, there were members from 60 countries and institutional subscriptions from 28 countries. The Journal of Wildlife Diseases has for many decades published papers on fauna from a wide variety of countries with 39% of papers published in 2006 from 25 countries outside of the US table 3. The Association has donated paper copies of the Bulletin of the Wildlife Disease Association/Journal of Wildlife Diseases to universities, resource management agencies and zoos in diverse parts of the world. Beginning in 2005, the WDA made all but the most recent 18 months of the Journal available electronically free of charge. During 2006 and in conjunction with the Wildlife Conservation Society Global Health Programs, the WDA co-sponsored free distribution of all issues of the electronic Journal of Wildlife Diseases, including the most recent ones, to people in the 113 least economically developed countries of the world. These countries represent 74% of the world human population.

The Council of the WDA has also become increasingly international in representation. There have been three presidents from Canada and one from Sweden. In 2007, 9 of 21 voting positions on the Council were occupied by members from outside the U.S. and our first executive manager for more than 20 years is from Canada.

Annual membership fees were first assessed in 1954 at $1and were $5 in 1967. The 1986 regular member fees of $30 increased $3.25 per annum through to 2005 ($85). During the same 20-year period, student fees increased $1 per annum from $20 to $40 and remain $40 in 2007. Associate member fees increased from the original $10 in 1992 to the current $22 for 2007. From comparisons in December 2005 with fees of 29 other like-minded biologically oriented societies that publish journals, student fees in the WDA were the 26th lowest fees. In a similar comparison of fees for regular members, the fees for the WDA were lower than for 24 of 32 like-minded organizations. Fees for institutional subscriptions were $10 in 1967, $60 in 1988 and $250 in 2006 before being converted to a structure for 2007 based on fees of varying amounts based on the size of the subscribing institution. In 2009, both memberships and subscriptions are being offered for electronic-only distribution of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases in addition to the previous option of both print and electronic versions of the Journal.

The first WDA website was created in 1997 and has been populated with an ever increasing amount of material. The current address of the Association website is www.wildlifedisease.org, the site upon which this history is mounted. A WDA business website, http://wda.allenmm.com, was established in 2004 and provides services available mainly to members only. These services include purchasing/renewing memberships, an electronic membership directory, ability to update personal contact information, voting in WDA elections, purchasing back issues of journals, and access to the programs and abstracts of the two most recent annual meetings. Through association with HighWire Press, the electronic version of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases was created in 2004 and is accessible at www.jwildlifedis.org. At present, the issues of the Journal published in the most recent 18 months are available to members only except that all issues are available free of charge to those in the 113 least economically developed countries of the world. All issues of the Journal published more than 18 months ago are freely available for viewing to everyone.

Shared communication at our annual meetings and through publications has been the primary focus of the Association throughout its history. However, the WDA has also collectively spoken out on important issues, including some that were quite controversial and caused dissension even among our own ranks. Resolutions, first approved by WDA council and then put to the membership for vote, have been passed, published, and distributed to various agencies on a diversity of subjects, eg: concern for the spread of foot and mouth disease northward via the Darien Gap Highway in Panama, the use of non-toxic shot to reduce waterfowl mortality from lead poisoning, and a request to The Wildlife Society to support and encourage its members and others to consider the potential short and long term adverse impacts that result form transmission of some diseases to native and indigenous species of wildlife (see Table 4 for complete list of WDA resolutions). The resolutions passed serve 1) to inform the public, government, and non-government agencies of the collective opinions of scientists with specialized expertise in wildlife disease issues and 2) to further the mission of our Association.